STOCKS RALLY: Here's what you need to know

Evan Vucci/AP US stocks rallied for a second day, regaining some ground after the worst sell-off of the year on Wednesday.

But markets got more political bombshells in the final hour of trading.

The major indexes pared gains after the Washington Post reported that a White House official close to President Donald Trump is now a person of interest in the Russia probe. And, The New York Times reported that Trump told Russian diplomats in an Oval Office meeting last week that his firing of "nut job" FBI Director James Comey had taken "great pressure" off of him.